September 27, 2016 – Insurance Journal
by Amy O’Connor
The Florida Office of Insurance Regulation (OIR) has given contingent approval for an overall statewide workers’ compensation rate increase of 14.5 percent to take effect Dec. 1, 2016. The rate increase is in response to two recent Supreme Court rulings undoing reforms passed in 2003 and rocking the state’s workers’ compensation system.
In the Sept. 27 order, OIR disapproved the National Council on Compensation Insurance’s (NCCI) filing for a 19.6 percent increase, on behalf of insurers, saying that much of an increase on new, renewal and outstanding policies was not justified.
Instead, OIR said NCCI could submit a revised filing for a 14.5 percent increase.
“After a thorough review of the workers’ compensation insurance rate filing submitted by the [NCCI] and careful consideration of hundreds of public comments and testimony received from interested stakeholders, [OIR] has issued an order that gives contingent approval to an overall combined average statewide rate increase of 14.5 percent versus the requested 19.6 percent,” OIR said in its statement.
OIR said approval of the revised rate increase is contingent on NCCI amending the filing to include the recommended changes stipulated within the order. The amended rate filing must be filed with OIR for review and approval no later than Oct. 4, 2016. NCCI said it would review the order and respond “in a timely manner.”
NCCI’s rate filing was originally submitted in May of this year and amended in June to address the impact of the three recent legal changes, including two Florida Supreme court case decisions (Castellanos v. Next Door Company and Westphal v. City of St. Petersburg) and legislatively-mandated updates to the Florida Workers’ Compensation Health Care Provider Reimbursement Manual (HCPR Manual).
OIR said if NCCI submits the required amended rate filing and the 14.5 percent is subsequently approved, the individual rate impacts will include [READ MORE]